I remember seeing you and Pansy when you were ten and she twelve years of age.  I foresaw what lay before you then, and have often wondered how you would meet the occasion when you were both “finished,” and at home under the same roof, and socially launched.  It was wise for your mother to separate you so early in life, and place you under different teachers, and in different schools.

It is difficult for a girl in her late childhood and early teens to use philosophy and religion to support her, when she is made a Cinderella by unthinking associates and friends, and forgotten and neglected while a more attractive sister is lionized.

Had you always walked in the shadow of your handsome sister until to-day, I fancy your disposition would have become warped with resentment and envy.

And perhaps your feelings for Pansy would have been less affectionate than now.

I am glad to have you tell me that Pansy is so modest and unassuming and so genuinely solicitous for your happiness.

She must have been particularly fortunate in her environment while at school to possess such qualities after knowing as she has known for twenty-two years that her beauty is dazzling to the eye of even the chance beholder.

There is no greater obstacle to the development of the best qualities in a young woman than the possession of such unusual beauty.  From her cradle she is made to realize its power, and men and women teach her in a thousand unconscious ways to be selfish and self-centred.  She receives attentions, and her acquaintance is sought, with no effort on her part, while more gifted and deserving companions are unnoticed.  She is made to realize that she is one to be served, where less attractive girls are taught to “stand and wait.”

The love nature of each human being is either developed or stunted by neglect during the early years of life, and, as a rule, the beautiful woman is incapable of a deep, absorbing, and unselfish love, because she has grown up the receiver instead of the giver.

Were you, my dear Sallie, to know the number of great beauties who have failed to find happiness in marriage, you would be amazed.  But the explanation is simple; for man is a being who, however he may worship beauty before marriage, worships his own comfort more deeply afterward.  And it is rare indeed when a famous beauty troubles herself to plan for the comfort or happiness of the man she marries.  It is the natural result of her education to think man made to adore and serve her.

I hope Pansy may keep her loving and lovable qualities, and that she may marry before the adoration and admiration of many men become necessary to her life.  For the beauties’ matrimonial barque most often founders on the reef of plural lovers.

As for yourself, I can only suggest that you acquire many accomplishments, and perfect yourself in music and languages, and that you seek for the attainment of all the subtle graces, which are, in the long run, more lasting as sources of happiness for a woman than mere beauty.  It is a peculiarly significant fact that the great passions of history have not been inspired by very young or startlingly beautiful women, but by those of maturity and mental charms.